‘In a wide-ranging decision earlier this month, the Court of Appeal has clarified a number of key questions on jurisdiction where an accident happens abroad during a holiday booked from UK. Most significantly, Arden LJ (giving the leading judgment) held that direct damage in the jurisdiction is required to come within the tort jurisdictional gateway in the CPR, effectively overruling earlier first instance decisions that indirect or consequential damage was sufficient. While this would prevent many overseas accidents from being litigated in the UK, Arden LJ did carve out an exception for Fatal Accident Act claims, which she considered involved “direct damage” in the UK. She also took the opportunity to provide her own “gloss” on the so-called “Canada Trust gloss”. Peppered throughout the judgment are some blistering but instructive observations on defective witness statements.’

Comments Off on A key new case on jurisdiction where an accident happens abroad during a holiday booked from the UK: Brownlie v Four Seasons Holdings Incorporated [2015] EWCA Civ 665 – Henderson Chambers

‘The time bar prescribed by article 16 of the Convention relating to the Carriage of Passengers and their Luggage by Sea, scheduled to the Merchant Shipping Act 1979, for the bringing of claims against a carrier did not apply to claims against a carrier for contribution in respect of the liability of others to the passenger.’

‘Dunnage v. Randall & UK Insurance Ltd [2015] EWCA Civ 673, 2 July 2015
This is an extraordinary case, and one which goes deep down into why the law of wrongs (or torts) makes people compensate others for injury and losses, whereas the criminal law may decide that a crime has not been committed.’

‘Judges have cleared the way for the former Guardian journalist Donald MacLeod to claim damages from the Metropolitan police after he was left with brain injuries when he was hit by a police car answering an emergency call while he was cycling home.’

‘This case concerned an appeal against an Order in which the Defendant was to pay the Claimant, Mr Lowdon, the sum of £17,000 by way of general damages for personal injury following injury he suffered as a result of riding on the Defendant’s equipment known as “The Hyper jump”.’Full story

‘In an important step away from Pretty v UK, the Grand Chamber of the Strasbourg Court has upheld the right of to die with dignity by ruling that there would be no violation of Article 2 (right to life) of the European Convention on Human Rights if artificial nutrition and hydration were to be withdrawn from a patient in a persistent vegetative state.’

‘Courts in England and Wales now have the power to strike out personal injury claims in their entirety if the person making the claim has been fundamentally dishonest, even if parts of the claim were genuine.’Full story

‘Damages for infringement of privacy rights should compensate not merely for distress but also, if appropriate, for a loss of privacy or autonomy arising out of the infringement as such, which might include, if appropriate, a sum to compensate for damage to dignity or standing so far as that was meaningful and not already compensated under the distress element.’

‘Comments made by some of the UK’s top judges during a recent ruling appear to signal their reluctance to extend the so-called ‘Fairchild’ exception to the normal rules of causation to cover any more types of damage or injury, an expert has said.’

‘Anecdotal evidence suggests that Defendants in failed personal injury claims are increasingly making use of the Court’s wasted costs powers in an attempt to recover costs from Claimants’ legal representatives. Often this is in cases where the Defence is either explicitly or implicitly one of fraud. In such cases the terms of the ATE insurance (if indeed any is held by the Claimant) are often such that the policy does not pay out. Thus, Defendants are sometimes left in the position of holding a costs order against a ‘man of straw’. To circumvent this problem it seems some Defendants are making costs applications against legal representatives directly, using the wasted costs jurisdiction. The recent case of Kagalovsky v Balmore Invest Ltd [2015] EWHC 1337 (QB)[1] provides a salutary reminder of the difficulties a party faces when seeking to persuade a Court to make a wasted costs order.’

‘A six-year-old boy with cerebral palsy is to receive a £10m care and rehabilitation package from Harrogate and district NHS foundation trust after it admitted failing to provide proper care during his birth that resulted in devastating neurological injuries.’

‘A marine left paralysed after diving into shallow waters in the Canary Islands is suing the military for £8m. Spencer Vaughan, 27, from Cwmbran in south Wales, broke his neck in the Gran Canaria incident while on an adventure training exercise in July 2009.’

‘The rule as to “fundamental” dishonesty has attracted a lot of attraction (and a lot of heated debate). However there has been very little examination of the details of the Act and the consequent procedural consequences. There are 10 key points which every personal injury litigator must be aware of.’

‘Lord Justice Jackson has dismissed a negligence claim against Veale Wasbrough, now national firm Veale Wasbrough Vizards, and the barrister it instructed to advise on a personal injury case.’Full story